'We missed the worst of it': Idalia's impact inspires sigh of relief in Volusia, Flagler

As the relatively moderate rains and wind from the eastern fringe of Hurricane Idalia moved across Volusia and Flagler counties on Wednesday, they were greeted with a sigh of relief from residents and business owners weary from a string of damaging storms within the past year.

In Daytona Beach, the low-lying Midtown neighborhood was one of the hardest hit areas in September last year, when catastrophic flooding deluged people's homes and spurred dozens of rescues by boat.

On Wednesday morning, residents of the neighborhood just east of Nova Road found nothing more than wet streets and a few puddles.

"There were no limbs down, no power outages, no flooding," said Cynthia Slater, who has lived in Midtown for more than 60 years. "We've had regular afternoon showers worse than this."

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Slater's home has been flooded badly about three times, including during Ian when she had to flee her house because water was seeping inside. This time only one or two nervous Midtown residents decided not to sleep at home Tuesday night, and all seems to be fine.

Idalia's impact in winds and rain

Hurricane Idalia pounded the Big Bend of Florida’s Gulf Coast after making landfall at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday as a powerful Category 3 packing winds of 125 mph, but the storm’s impact was considerably milder throughout Volusia and Flagler.

In Daytona Beach, sustained winds were clocked at 20 mph with gusts to 35-40 mph on Wednesday morning during the storm’s peak impact, according to the National Weather Service in Melbourne.

By mid-morning, the storm had dumped 1 inch of water in Daytona Beach, with an additional 2-3 inches expected throughout the day, according to Robert Haley, NWS meteorologist. Both Volusia and Flagler were among the counties under a tornado watch initially issued through 3 p.m. Wednesday.

On Wednesday, meteorologists advised areas residents to remain alert for potential tornadoes, even though the winds and rain didn’t materialize as feared.

“There are storm bands moving across the state right now that continue to produce deep convection cells to produce rotation enough that the threat for tornadoes embedded in these squall lines continues,” Haley said.

In Daytona's Midtown: 'We missed the worst of it'

Despite that possibility, the prevailing mood was relief, especially in Daytona Beach’s vulnerable Midtown neighborhood.

The Rev. Derrick Harris, who runs and owns a barbershop on Orange Avenue in Midtown, said "it seems like we missed the worst of it."

Harris lives in Ormond Beach, and he said he didn't see any damage or problems there, either.

In addition to Midtown, one of Daytona Beach's other flood-prone areas is the downtown Beach Street corridor. The riverfront road has repeatedly been swamped with a few feet of water during tropical storms and hurricanes.

But on Wednesday morning, business owners were gleeful to wake up to nothing worse than damp sidewalks and roads.

More: Low elevation makes Daytona's Midtown vulnerable to chronic flooding

Sweet Marlays' Coffee owner Tammy Kozinski said her Beach Street shop, which has flooded badly during past storms, opened as usual at 5 a.m. Wednesday.

"We're fine," she said. "We're just a little slower than normal with business."

Her landlord, downtown property owner Jack White, decided not to barricade Sweet Marlays' and his other buildings with sandbags. But the store stayed dry, Kozinski said.

"Everything's great," White said. "I've been checking it all morning, and even last night. There's really no storm surge to speak of. We really only got a little bit of rain."

On beachside, 'it looks normal'

Longtime Daytona Beach resident Anne Ruby said she drove around Daytona's beachside Wednesday morning from the area around Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church down to Dunlawton Avenue and didn't see any damage or flooding.

"The beachside came through just fine," Ruby said. "It looks normal."

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That echoed the observations of Rob Burnetti, general manager of the 212-room Shores Resort & Spa in Daytona Beach Shores, who was out along the beach early to check to the condition of a repaired beach access ramp just to the north of the hotel.

“We’re just watching the first high tide and it feels like we’re going to be OK,” Burnetti said. “For now, it looks like one of our normal rainstorms.”

Burnetti said that the repairs to the beach access ramp seemed to withstand the storm’s peak impact.

“For us, we look at the beach access ramp just to the north of our hotel that has been reinforced with trap bags on the ramp for beach access. Water did get up that far but based on what I can see this morning, it didn’t do any additional damage. The trap bags held up pretty well.”

There were few guests at the hotel, where employees worked ahead of the storm to bring in pool deck furniture and other outside items, Burnetti said.

“We really are looking at this as a practice in case a more severe threat comes our way during the remaining season,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to be prepared should a worse storm come our way.”

In West Volusia, no issues reported in Deltona

In West Volusia, spokeswoman for Deltona, Catherine Barker, said Wednesday morning that she had not received reports of any storm-related issues.

That’s also a relief after hundreds of homes in Volusia County's largest city sustained some level of flooding from back-to-back Tropical Storms Ian and Nicole.

During a City Commission meeting on Monday, staff told the commission they had received permission from the St. Johns River Water Management District to open the gates for the Lake Doyle to Lake Bethel emergency overflow interconnection would help alleviate potential flooding in the Lake Theresa basin.

The city currently faces a class-action lawsuit from 40-plus Stone Island property owners who say the city routed floodwaters from Ian into their neighborhood by opening the weir.

The National Weather Service's hydrograph Wednesday morning showed no flooding issues along the St. Johns River in Volusia County, which saw record-breaking flooding last year following Ian.

In New Smyrna Beach, Port Orange: 'Nothing significant to report'

In southeast Volusia County, where severe flooding affected thousands in cities like New Smyrna Beach and Port Orange last year, the morning impacts of Idalia were far less significant.

Even with “nothing significant to report” by mid-morning Wednesday, according to city spokesman Philip Veski, New Smyrna Beach officials were still asking residents to be cautious as the storm continued into the afternoon, when 45-50 mph winds and 1 to 3 inches of rain could still affect low-lying areas in the city, such as those near the Turnbull Canal (Pine Island and Aqua Golf).

In Port Orange, city spokesman Michael Springer said they had not received “any reports of damage or flooding” Wednesday morning.

In Wilbur-by-the-Sea, where several homes were partially or mostly lost to beach erosion last year, residents like Ken Meister  — who lost part of his home to Tropical Storm Nicole in 2022  — said Wednesday morning there had been “no issues thus far” with his home.

In Flagler Beach, 'nothing crazy, no rain, no heavy winds'

People were taking videos and selfies are simply watching the waves roll at Flagler Beach.

Joe Armellino, a senior lifeguard for Flagler Beach, said there had been no problems so far.

“The waves have been pretty big but nothing crazy, no rain, no heavy winds,” Armellino said.

He said they were awaiting the next high tide at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

“That will be the big thing with the king tide, the full moon and the storm and will see from there how the beach holds up,” Armellino said.

“That’s about it; no one in the water. Everyone’s been safe, just a little wind and rain,” Armellino said.

Nick Dolan of Ormond Beach brought his two kids to look at the ocean.

“Thankfully, I feel like we obviously avoided the worst of it so checking out the waves,” he said.

He said his kids enjoy coming out to Flagler Beach to see the effects of the storms.

“They love seen the change in the sand and everything else,” Dolan said.

Gideon Bloyer, of Palm Coast, also brought his two kids to look at the ocean as an educational moment on the weather.

“Just coming out here with my kids to see the storm and how powerful these storms can be,” Bloyer said.

He said his kids were impressed by the ocean.

“They were kind of amazed at how big the waves can get in this kind of storm and my daughter was kinda getting annoyed with the wind so I’m going to get out of here,” Bloyer said.

Flagler County, Palm Coast, Flagler Beach and Ormond Beach did not report any problems.

Flagler Beach Police Chief Matt Doughney said A1A was holding up and there had been no issues so far with the road, which was also being monitored by the Florida Department of Transportation.

News-Journal reporters Eileen Zaffiro-Kean, Katie Kustura, Brenno Carillo and Frank Fernandez contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: What was Hurricane Idalia's impact on Volusia, Flagler?